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The local water utility might seem an unlikely site for a revolution. But the swell of changes due to hit the water supply market within months is set to burst open the idea of which companies might be supplying Britain’s lights and water.

The days of static regional water monopolies are coming to an end; first for businesses, which will choose their supplier for the first time from next April, and by the end of the decade households are expected to follow suit.

And plans to liberalise the water market mean far more than simply allowing customer choice. The ripple effect is huge: new companies, multi-utility offerings and radical tie-ups with some of the biggest tech companies in the world could...